


The Grimm Legacy

by rozanyg



Series: Kidge One-Shots [Keith x Pidge] [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Grimm Legacy AU, Multi, by Polly Shulman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:51:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rozanyg/pseuds/rozanyg
Summary: Katie Holt just started working as a page at the Altea Circulating Material Repository - a library of historical objects. But what she didn’t know was that the Repository held a big secret. The Grimm Collection - a collection of magical items straight from the Grimm Brothers fairy tales.But shortly after she joined, the objects start disappearing. So it’s up to her and the other pages - handsome Lance, perfect Allura, caring Hunk, and brooding Keith - along with the librarians - Dr. Shirogane and Mr. Coran - to get them back.





	The Grimm Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> I seriously need to stop writing AUs if I'm not sure I can't finish them. 
> 
> But ANYWAY, this story is based on Polly Shulman's book The Grimm Legacy. I'm honestly just writing it 'cause I'm Kidge trash and I liked the development between the two love interests in the book :))))
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

The snow crunched under my feet and my honey brown hair bounced on my shoulders as I sprint towards my school. I’m late, again. Going to sleep at three to later wake up at six was indeed a bad idea, I didn’t hear my alarm and it was my brother who had to wake me up, ten minutes before school started.

At the front gate, a woman was pushing a cart down the sidewalk, unknowingly pushing it right into a crack in the cement. The cart overturned a, taking the woman with it. I ran straight to her and bent down to help her up. My cold hands grabbing onto her rags and I lifted her up gently. I still didn’t get a chance to look at the woman in the face, her long white hair covered her face.

But as I helped her pick up her belongings from the cart, I noticed the serious lack of winter clothes this woman had, but I almost gasped at what she was wearing on her feet: sandals!

I immediately opened my bag and dug into it, searching the seemingly bottomless bag for my sneakers. The stained white sneakers materialized behind my laptop and I pull them out. I hand them to the woman, “Here.” The woman scanned the sneakers and she cocked an eyebrow in confusion, so I continued, “They’re not winter-boots, but hopefully they’re better than those sandals.”

The woman beamed a bright smile of yellowed teeth and thanked me, “Thank you, child. You are far too kind.” I smiled at the woman and remembered my pair of socks in the pockets of the bag. I took it out and handed them to her, “I hope these will help.”

The woman thanked me again but as I turned around, she grabbed my hand and placed a pencil in my palm, “Keep it safe.” I looked back down on the pencil, reading the red ink spelling TICONDEROGA.

When I looked back up, the woman was gone and I was standing in front of the gate by myself.

“Come on, Katherine. You’re late.” My favorite teacher, Mr. Kolivan, stood at the door, his usual brooding stance intimidating the freshmen as they ran past him to their classes.

I forgot all about the pencil as I sprinted towards the school with my bookbag feeling lighter without the sneakers to drag me back. 

Mr. Kolivan stood at the front of the class, picking up the homework he assigned for the weekend. A research paper on a topic we had to choose from a list of topics Mr. Kolivan provided. And I, despite Matt’s teasing and warnings, wrote about the Grimm Brothers. If he didn’t want us writing about it why would it be on the list?

As Mr. Kolivan gave out the last research paper, I looked around and noticed that I was the only one without their research-paper back. Mr. Kolivan looked at me in the way and said, “Katherine I want to see you after class,” before continuing with the class, going off about the Ottomans in World War II.

But my mind wandered off, making up hundreds of scenarios over what he’s gonna say. Probably something about my essay being horrible and that I failed a test that he wanted to see whether we would be dumb enough to actually write about such a childish topic. Or maybe he’ll-

The bell rung, dismissing the class. The class simultaneously got up and left the classroom empty in a matter of seconds, leaving me dazed in my seat like an idiot. I lowered my head in shame asMr. Kolivan approached with my paper folded vertically. He had a stern look on his face and I waited for the lecture to come.

But instead of a lecture, he said something I didn’t expect, “Congratulations.” When I looked up, my paper was on my desk displaying a purple A with a perfect circle drawn around it.

My mouth hung open agape for a second before I managed to stutter, “Oh, th-thank you, Mr. Kolivan.” 

Mr. Kolivan nodded but I could tell that he wasn’t finished and he continued, “Why the Grimm brothers?” 

“I don’t know ... I guess I was just always infatuated with fairy tales. I mean, they tell their stories so detailed that they feel real.”

“Real?”

WRONG WORD. “I mean, it seems genuine. The bad guys win and good people die. Just like life. People say that fairy tales are black and white, that they’re simple. But underneath all the good endings, there is an unearthed symbolism that they don’t pick up on. To me they’re complicated. They’re complex.” Nice save.

Mr. Kolivan seemed to let my answer marinade as he stood in front of me with his nose scrunched, meaning he’s thinking. 

“Would you like a job?” 

I furrow my eyebrows at the random question, “What?”

Mr. Kolivan dug his hands into front pant pockets, “A friend of mine at the Altea Circulating Material Repository told me they have an opening for a new page. It’s a great place, I worked there myself when I was your age.” 

Geez, how old is this place?

I forced my mind away from that thought as I asked, “Is that like a library?”

“‘Like a library.’ Exactly. Well-put.”

“Yeah - yes. I’d like that,” I said. A job equals money. Plus, it wasn’t as if I have a social life so I won’t be missing anything. 

“Great, let me give you his number.”

Mr. Kolivan hands me a small crumpled piece of paper with small numbers scribbled in purple ink at the front, the name DR. SHIROGANE written right under it. I thanked him and left the classroom with a scrap of paper in my pocket.

I walked in my apartment and, as usual, there was no one home. The advantages of having your whole entire family work at the Garrison. I threw my bookbag on my bed and laid down on my stomach and cuddled with my pillow as Green, my Bombay cat, cuddled against my arm as I scrolled down.

After a few minutes of doing nothing, I remembered the paper Mr. Kolivan gave me and I took it out, reading the numbers over and over again. I looked back to green who was just napping and asked, “Time to make a phone call, Green?” 

Green just sat there and I shrugged, “I guess that’s a yes.”

I sat crisscrossed and dialed the phone number, a kind masculine voice responding after three beeps.

“Takashi Shirogane.”

“Dr. Shirogane? I - this is Katherine Holt. My social studies teacher, Mr. Kolivan told me you had an opening for a job?”

“Oh, right. Katherine. Yes, Kolivan said you’d call. I’m glad to hear from you.”

Kolivan. His own friends don’t call him by his first name?

“Can you come in for an interview next Thursday after school?”

“Alright, where do I go?” Dr. Shirogane gave me an address that is literally across the street from the school. 

“Ask for me at the front desk, they’ll send you up.”

Soon enough, it was Thursday and I found myself reading the painted gold plaque reading The Altea Circulating Material Repository. The building seemed very old school, a small narrow building patterned with brick walls and little windows. It had a homey view from the outside and it seemed to have a welcoming aura. 

I opened the entrance door and, somehow, it opened into a huge lobby. The floors made of faux marble and it reflected the light of the small chandeliers. At the very end stood a huge, dark oak desk with elaborate carvings. But it wasn’t the desk that astounded me, but it was the fact that Lance McClain stood behind it. 

Lance McClain, the tallest, cutest, the best shortstop and batter in the school. I once saw the guy smack a paper ball aimed at his face away and land it in the garbage can on the other side of Mr. Antok’s Calculus class.

But when I say he’s cute... he’s cute. I’m talking about model cute... okay I think a more accurate word would be hot but that’s not a word I’d like to think about as this dude is looking at me.

HE’S LOOKING AT ME.

“Um, I’m here to see Dr. Shirogane?” I said.

Lance offered me a blinding smile and picked up the receiver of an old-fashioned telephone, “All right. Who should I say is here?” 

“Katherine Holt.”

Lance dialed up a number and spoke into it, “Katherine Holt is here to see you, Shiro... Sure ... not until five today... Okay.” He hung up and pointed towards an odd looking elevator and gave me directions, “Fifth floor, first door to the right. You’ll see it.”

I thanked him, hoping he didn’t see the blush on my cheeks and made my way out to Dr. Shirogane’s door. 

I found myself face-to-face with Dr. Shirogane’s black door soon enough and I knocked lightly. 

“The door’s open.”

I turned the knob and sure enough, it was open. I swung the heavy door open and I saw a tall, bulky, young man sitting behind a dark oak desk similar to the one downstairs. He had an undercut and bleach white bangs, but somehow although he had an absurd hairdo, he was still intimidating.

He looked away from the pile of papers he was dealing with and smiled once he his gray eyes met mine and I could have sworn I’ve seen him before. “Katherine. Nice to meet you. Have a seat.” I did as told and sat at the lone seat in front of his desk and intertwined my fingers, playing with them as Dr. Shirogane read from the computer before he asked, “You’re in Kolivan’s European history class, right?”

I nodded, “That’s right.”

Shiro nodded, “That’s good. Kolivan has never sent us a bad page. He says you’re hardworking and witty. Independent and a genius - which is a high praise from Kolivan, believe me. This is gonna sound weird but, do you do the dishes at home?”

Uh??? “Yeah, most of the time.”

“How often?”

“Most days, maybe five or six times a week.” Because lord knows Matt can’t clean a dish to save his life.

Dr. Shirogane nodded and continued with his weird questions, “And how many have you broken this year?”

“Dishes?”

“Yes, dishes, glasses, that sort of thing.”

“None. Why?”

“Oh, we can never be too careful. When was the last time you lost your keys?”

“I never lose my keys?”

“Perfect. All right,” Dr. Shirogane turned around a grabbed a box on the shelf behind him, “Would you sort these please?”

“How?”

“Now that’s up to you.”

I look down to the box and open it to find a huge collection of buttons. I spilled the contents of the box onto the desk and began sorting them by materials: wood and other plant materials; metal; stone; bone, shell, and other animal parts; glass and other man-made materials, including plastic. Then I made a subgroup where I organized them by size. 

Once I finished, Dr. Shirogane bent down to my eye-level and studied my sorting, giving me a good look at his face. He had a pink scar across the bridge of his nose and freckle-speckled cheeks, but for some reason, I could have sworn I can see them move.

“Which do you think is the most valuable?”

I pointed to the button that seemed to contain a mix of rubies and diamonds. 

“Which is the oldest?”

I pointed to a stone button that seemed to be missing chunks and had a few cracks.

“The most powerful?” 

I rose an eyebrow at that, “Powerful? How can a button be powerful?”

Dr. Shirogane smiled and responded, “I think you’ll find that every object here has its own unique qualities.” 

Before I could register what he just said, he stood up and had a large smile painting his face and offered a hand, “This has been illuminating, Katherine. Do you think you can start tomorrow?” I stand up and take his right hand, finding that his arm isn’t actually an arm, more like a metal appendage.

I shake his hand and nod, “I can start tomorrow.”

Dr. Shirogane smiles again, “Great. I’ll get Keith to show you around tomorrow. Lance, could you take her to Stack 9 and show her the ropes?”

I turn around behind me and find Lance McClain leaning on the doorway, “But the ropes are on Stack 2-”

“I mean metaphorically Lance.”

“Oh, sure Shiro. Come on...”

I had to bring myself back to reality once I realized that Lance didn’t know my name, despite the fact that we’re in Calculus together. “Katherine. But you can call me Katie.”

Lance nodded and waved me to follow him, “Come on, Katie.”

I began following him and I turned around to thank Dr. Shirogane, “Thank you, Dr. Shirogane.”

He smiled back at me and urged, “Call me Shiro. And no problem, Katie.”


End file.
